In the latest close session, Caterpillar (CAT) was down 2.08% at $428.91. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.6% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 1.23%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 2.24%.
The construction equipment company's shares have seen an increase of 10.09% over the last month, surpassing the Industrial Products sector's gain of 5.21% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.25%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Caterpillar in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on August 5, 2025. In that report, analysts expect Caterpillar to post earnings of $4.88 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 18.53%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $16.35 billion, indicating a 2.01% downward movement from the same quarter last year.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $18.79 per share and a revenue of $63.22 billion, signifying shifts of -14.2% and -2.45%, respectively, from the last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Caterpillar should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.33% higher. Caterpillar is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Caterpillar has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.31 right now. This expresses no noticeable deviation compared to the average Forward P/E of 23.31 of its industry.
We can additionally observe that CAT currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.74. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry had an average PEG ratio of 5.18.
The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 210, placing it within the bottom 15% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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Caterpillar Inc. (CAT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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